


Fake Snow

by earlgreytea68



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Inception Bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 07:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15383493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/pseuds/earlgreytea68
Summary: Arthur and Eames are trapped in a snow globe.





	Fake Snow

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Inception Bingo. My trope was "Trapped in a _____." I wanted to go in a completely absurd direction...

They were trapped in a snow globe. 

Arthur couldn’t believe the utter absurdity of their situation. He battered his fists against the glass barrier and then pressed his face to it to try to see the world beyond it. It looked like an empty void. 

“We’re surrounded by a void,” he told Eames, and sank to the ground, disturbing a flurry of fake snow that kicked up into the air around him before floating slowly back down. “Life is meaningless.” 

Eames looked amused, because Eames always looked fucking amused. “I told you. It’s a snow globe. You can’t get out of it.” 

“A fucking snow globe,” Arthur said. “We’re living in a snow globe.” 

“Darling, it’s another couple of days, just until the timer runs down. It’s not so bad.” 

The mark, Irina, went by, giggling, hand-in-hand with the extractor Carmen, because this particular job was all about getting the mark to fall in love. A dream-brain in love was syrupy slow to defend itself, hazy with the real sensation of the euphoria. And Arthur had days in front of him to watch Carmen flirt with Irina. It was enough to make anyone feel ill. 

“But why did it have to be a snow globe?” Arthur grumbled. 

“You suggested it be a snow globe,” Eames reminded him. “Irina is obsessed with them. Has a whole collection.” 

“No, _you_ say good-bye first!” Irina was now saying, her voice oddly bouncing off the glass dome around them so that it was crystal-clear even though Irina and Carmen weren’t very close to them. 

“No, _you_ ,” rejoined Carmen, sickeningly sweet. 

“Oh, my _god_ ,” groaned Arthur, and collapsed backward onto the weird plastic ground. “This is the worst dream _ever_.” 

“Look at it this way,” said Eames cheerfully. “At least I don’t have to make Irina fall in love with _me_ , which frees me up to entertain you.” 

“Entertain me how?” Arthur asked miserably, closing his hands into fists around the fake snow underneath him. 

“We could have sex,” Eames suggested. 

“That would definitely kill a few minutes,” Arthur agreed drily. 

Eames didn’t say anything, so Arthur turned his head to look at him. 

“You’re serious,” he realized. 

“Of course I’m serious! I’m always serious about having sex with you!” 

“You don’t think it’s a terrible idea that would ruin forever our working relationship?” 

“It’s just sex, kitten,” Eames said evenly, and held Arthur’s gaze, as if daring him to call it anything else. 

So Arthur didn’t say it. Arthur didn’t say _It’s never going to be just sex and you know it_. He didn’t say _It’s never been just about sex and you know it_. He didn’t say it because he really did know that Eames already knew this. Eames said _Let’s have sex_ and meant something else entirely, and Arthur knew that was what he’d be saying yes to. 

Carmen’s voice cooed, “Who has the cutest ickle nose I’ve ever seen?” 

Irina responded, “It can’t be me because it has to be _you_!” 

Arthur said, “If you tell me I have a cute ickle nose, I’m out of here, I don’t care if this is a snow globe, I will find a way out or I will shoot myself.” 

“If I tell you that you have a cute ickle nose, I definitely give you permission to destroy the snow globe,” replied Eames. 

Arthur looked at him for a moment longer. He wanted to think really hard about this decision he was about to make, but really he was just looking at Eames and thinking about the fact that he was _Eames_. 

Arthur said, “Sound is weird in here and I don’t want them to hear us having sex.” 

The sun went out abruptly, and every fake streetlight in the snow globe, every house lined up along the fake brick street decked out for Christmas, immediately began glowing in reaction. Arthur looked up. The clear glass had been replaced by what looked like foam. 

“A bit of dream ingenuity,” Eames said. “To absorb sound.” 

Arthur glanced at Irina and Carmen, who were still conversing a good distance away from them, except now Arthur could hear none of it. 

He sighed in relief. “Oh, good. This means we also won’t hear them having sex.” 

Eames grinned and stepped closer to Arthur. He didn’t kiss him but he rubbed his nose against his and murmured, “Darling, would you like to check out the bedrooms in one of these fake Victorian rowhouses all decorated for Christmas?” 

And Arthur said yes. 

And maybe their first kiss was surrounded by the sparkle of thoroughly fake snow but it felt real enough.


End file.
